Middle Assyrian Empire

The Middle Assyrian Empire was a period of Assyrian history from 1392 BC to 934 BC, between the fall of the Old Assyrian Empire and the establishment of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The 14th century BC ruler Eriba-Adad I (r. 1392-1366 BC) broke Mitanni influence over Assyria, and his son Ashur-uballit I (1365-1330 BC) broke Mitanni power in conjunction with the Hittites. Ashur-uballit also had his daughter marry the half-Assyrian king in Babylon, and, when the Kassite faction had the king murdered, Ashur-uballit invaded Babylonia, deposed the king, and installed Kurigalzu II on the throne. Ashur-uballit then defeated the Mitanni king Shattiwaza (now backed by the Hittites) and conquered Mitanni and Hurrian lands, making Assyria into a powerful empire. His son Enlil-nirari (1329-1308 BC) crushed Kurigalzu's revolt, repelled Babylonian attempts to invade Assyria, and conquered more Babylonian lands, further expanding Assyria. His son Arik-den-ili (1307-1296 BC) subjugated the Gutians of the Zagros Mountains in the east, and he also defeated the Aramean tribes of Syria in the west. Adad-nirari I (1295-1275 BC) made Kalhu the new Assyrian capital, and he conquered Carchemish and other territories from the Hittites and Hurrians. He also annexed more Babylonian territories and made a border agreement with them. Shalmaneser I (1274-1244 BC) conquered the Hurrian kingdom of Urartu in eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus, and he also destroyed the Mitanni kingdom. Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1207 BC) conquered Babylonia, took the title of "King of Sumer and Akkad", and became the first native Mesopotamian to rule over Babylon. His sons rebelled and killed him in his new capital of Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, and Assyria entered into a period of internal instability. Ashur-dan I (1179-1133 BC) stabilized Assyria, seized and plundered northern Babylonia, and fought off an Elamite invasion. His death led to another period of instability which ended under Ashur-resh-ishi I (1133-1116 BC), who annexed the Hittite lands in Asia Minor and Syria and the Gutian and Kassite regions in Persia. Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077 BC) founded the first Assyrian empire, conquering the Luwian kingdoms of Commagene, Cilicia, and Cappadocia, and the Phoenician city-states of Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Simyra, Aradus, and Arvad. Late in the reign of Ashur-bel-kala (1073-1056 BC), the empire entered into a period of civil war, and many of the areas in Syria and Canaan-Phoenicia were lost by the end of his reign. Assyria survived the "Bronze Age collapse", but it declined from 1056 BC to 956 BC. By 1020 BC, Assyria only controlled its heartland, having lost all of its conquests. The Arameans, Chaldeans, and Suteans overran much of Babylonia to the south, the Medes, Persians, and Parthians overran Iran, the Phrygians overran the Hittites, and the Hurrians created the new kingdom of Urartu in the Caucasus. However, the Assyrian kings defended their heartland. After the death of Tiglath-Pileser II in 936 BC, his son Ashur-dan II created the Neo-Assyrian Empire.